Syrian Elector

Bush bid to isolate Mideast hardliners backfires: analysts

WASHINGTON (AFP) — The Bush administration's campaign to isolate Iran and Syria has backfired as the two Middle East hardliners ended up this week sidelining the United States, analysts said.

Supported by Iran and Syria, Hezbollah bolstered recent military gains in a deal with Lebanon's pro-western government while Syria emerged from the shadows with the announcement of indirect talks with Israel, they contend.

For Brookings Institution analyst Ammar Abdulhamid, a Syrian scholar and dissident, both events flow from a broader plan orchestrated by "puppet master" Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran's supreme leader.

"You end up realizing there is a strategy being worked out between Hezbollah, Syria and Iran, and they have actually managed to make quite strong headway in the last few days," Abdulhamid told AFP.

"The Iranians are running the show right now," he added.

Though President George W. Bush's administration may disagree with that, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice late last month mentioned Iran as a threat to Lebanon, the Palestinian territories, Iraq and even in Afghanistan.

Few would dispute that Iran's regional influence has risen since 2003 when US-led forces invaded Iraq, overthrew Sunni leader Saddam Hussein and empowered once downtrodden Shiite Muslims close to Iran.

Some analysts disagreed with Abdulhamid and argued that Iran might ultimately find itself isolated over Syria's talks with Israel, but they all insisted that President George W. Bush's policies have backfired.

Syrian blogger sentenced to three years in jail

DAMASCUS, Syria: A human rights group says a 24-year-old Syrian blogger has been convicted and sentenced to three years in prison on charges of undermining the prestige of the state and weakening national morale.

In a statement sent to The Associated Press on Wednesday, The National Organization for Human Rights in Syria condemned the verdict issued the day before as "outrageous" and called for Tarek Bayassi's immediate release.

The rights group says Bayassi's sentence was commuted to three years after an original sentence of six years. Bayassi was arrested last May in northwest Syria for surfing sites of Syrian opposition groups and posting comments online.

The Syrian government frequently arrests activists for posting comments critical of the government online.

Trading places

A former political prisoner, 70-year old Ghassan Najjar, has offered to take the place of Fidaa Akram al-Hourani, the head of the Damascus Declaration for Democratic National Change who was arrested in December. 
By OMAR ABDULLATIF

HOMS, May 5, 2008 (MENASSAT) – Ghassan Najjar made his unusual proposal in an article which has been published by many opposition and independent websites and newspapers in Syria.

"An educated militant lady such as Dr. Fidaa al-Hourani has been suffering from sickness and imprisonment for more than three months. Her Palestinian husband, Dr. Gazi al-Alyan, has been deported. No one is hearing her suffering, her retching or even her roaring. So I'm offering myself to the security services on the condition that this fine woman, the head of the Damascus Declaration, is released. I do this so that history wouldn't say that the proud Syrian people no longer has any gentlemen and doesn't respond to the voices of our women."

Najjar assured MENASSAT that he is serious about his proposal, saying, "I am ready to take al-Hourani's place in jail. This is an honor to me. As an Arab society, we don't accept a woman staying in jail without getting any help."

The Syrian authorities so far haven't reacted to Najjar's proposal. But Najjar points out that even if al-Hourani's case has already been referred to the court system, it is perfectly possible for President Bashar Assad to order her release on humanitarian grounds alone. Al-Hourani is suffering from kidney disease and has had to be hospitalized once already since her imprisonment.

Executions Could Strain Syrian-Saudi Relations

01-May-08 _ The recent executions of three Syrians convicted of drug trafficking in Saudi Arabia may mark a downturn in the already frosty relationship between the two countries.

Syrian national Ibrahim al-Jarkh was beheaded on April 25, eight days after the execution of two other men, Feras al-Aghbar and Feras al-Maktabi. All three were executed in Tabuk in northwestern Saudi Arabia.

Dozens of people with relatives detained in Saudi Arabia staged protests in Damascus following the executions. At protests outside the Saudi embassy and Syrian interior ministry, participants held signs aloft calling on President Bashar al-Assad to "save our families and brothers from Saudi Arabia's unpredictable verdicts."

State-run television reported the demonstration in some detail, and other media gave broad coverage to news of the executions.

As a local human rights activist pointed out, "It's well known that no demonstrations are allowed in Syria unless they have a green light from the authorities. This appears to be a move against the Saudi government."

Jailed Syrian rights activist wins award from Ireland

By SHAWN POGATCHNIK, Associated Press Writer
Thu May 1, 2:25 PM ET

One of Syria's most prominent pro-democracy activists won an Irish award Thursday for his work trying to promote human rights for prisoners, political parties and journalists in his homeland.

But Anwar al-Bunni has yet to hear of the accolade. The 49-year-old lawyer has been imprisoned since May 2006 after Syrian President Bashar Assad launched a crackdown against opposition voices demanding greater freedoms.

Irish President Mary McAleese presented the annual Front Line Award for Human Rights Defenders at Risk to al-Bunni's wife, Ragheda Issa Refki, at a Dublin City Hall ceremony attended by politicians and ambassadors. Refki received two standing ovations, as well as a hug from the Irish head of state.

McAleese said promoting human rights in a one-party state like Syria was "a very, very lonely place. It takes a very, very special person like Anwar al-Bunni to confront the extraordinary range of forces arrayed against him."

She expressed hope that the award would "send a message to his oppressors."